Ha! I had mine done like 25 years ago and I still remember how bad that shot hurt! Who knew my toes, which half the time are nakedly exposed to the ground and other elements, are soooo sensitive to shots? Damn, that was painful.
The healing afterwards was painful for me too, though. None of this “like it never happened” stuff. It took about a week before I could walk without pain.
But having it done was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself! I had had years of ingrown toenail pain and all these years later I still am ingrown-toenail-free!
When I had my series of ingrown toenails taken care off, I always got antibiotics and nail cut on the first visit. I was told that they needed to close off the avenue for bacteria into my toe for the antibiotics to be effective.
And I said, my PCP was able to do it with no problem.
I cannot imagine having surgery and electing not to have anesthetic. I’ve had 3 (I think 3) ingrown toenails removed and the first was a nothingburger. For the second surgery after the first shot my toe wouldn’t go numb… another shot… wouldn’t go numb… another shot, wouldn’t go numb… I remember the doc gave me yet another shot of Novocaine and the holes from the first shots started leaking the previously administered Novocaine. Still wouldn’t go numb. I had to come back later, and this time he used Marcaine. Took longer to work but work it did and ever since then I’ve had to specifically request Marcaine instead of Novocaine for dental work and the like.
The podiatrist who did my above surgery said that was the very reason he became a podiatrist: he had an ingrown toenail removed when he was a teenager and the relief was so great that he decided that doing that for other people would be the best thing he could do for humanity. I dunno if I believe him but the story makes sense – ingrown toenails hurt like a mofo.
Since it sounds like this might be a chronic problem, that is another reason to go the the doctor as he may be able to prevent it reoccurring. I used to get ingrown toenails periodically would usually treat them myself with a hot soak… But when one didn’t resolve on its own my wife convinced me to go to a podiatrist. As well as doing a quick painless surgery to fix the nail, he also applied a treatment that would prevent nail growth in that corner of the toe. Since then I’ve never had an ingrown toe nail.
I was 14. Both sides of my right foot big toe were ingrown. Mom took me to the doctor (I don’t know what type he was beyond incompetent.). He put a series of shots around the toe instead of around the base (I found out later) as it should be. Those half dozen shots were just awful. But wait, there’s more: the shots had no anesthetic benefit at all – he started cutting on basically a live toe; both sides. I have never screamed so loud and long in my life. My brother in the waiting room thought I was dying. No further instructions on what to do, no follow up visit planned, nothing. Two days later, we left for vacation and after a week, I was having problems, despite being off the foot the whole time. Parents unwrapped the digit, and – HOLY HELL! NIGHT OF THE LIVING TOE! It was purple, smelled really bad, and was shriveled up. Another doctor was visited who took one look and was obviously disgusted with the handiwork. He gave a list of instructions and Rx for infection and PAINKILLERS! A week later, vast improvement.
Many years later, I had to visit a podiatrist for another, different ingrown toenail and it was night and day. They had a can of freezy spray that numbed the toe, a couple shots around the base of the toe (felt like pinpricks – they have much better needles today) and he set to work. Really nice guy, very professional – his staff, too. No screaming, we’re just gabbing back and forth, only had a little problem walking back to the car.
If you’re in the Houston, TX, area and need a podiatrist, I can give you his name and I swear you will be handled expertly.
They can do whatever acute care is needed right now for the infected toenail. I’ve definitely heard of ERs calling in a podiatrist or other specialist for a procedure the available doctor(s) can’t do; this is especially true when dealing with children.
Now that the OP has seen the doc it seems like a good spot to drop one of my favorite home remedies for fucked up infections of toes and fingers. My first husband worked as a dishwasher for a while and that is a filthy ass job where small cuts are common and infectious agents abound. He got a nasty infection underneath the nail of one of his fingers and because his hands had to be in hot nasty water all the time it just would NOT heal. Another more experienced dishwasher introduced him to the Lemon Trick–cut an appropriately sized hole into a lemon, dig around a bit to make sure there’s plenty of flesh and juice available then just stick the offending digit right into that lemon and leave it there for a good hour or so. Usually one lemon will be enough to open up the infection and drain all the nastiness right out of it so it can be properly treated with neosporin and bandaged. I’ve used the trick on an ingrown toenail and it works great. Protip though, do NOT get curious and cut open the lemon afterward to see what went on in there. Just…don’t.
Oh, and to answer the usual question, no, the lemon doesn’t hurt. I have no idea why but it actually feels pretty good.